


Yesterday Was Our Last Tomorrow

by TheDefenderoftheFaith



Category: Hawk and Dove (Comics), Injustice: Gods Among Us, Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Justice Lords - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Dark, Don is a rebel, Feels, Gen, Hank has good intentions, Lobotomy, No Happy Ending Fest, Sort Of, lots of feels, pretty dark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22533256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDefenderoftheFaith/pseuds/TheDefenderoftheFaith
Summary: Hank might not be known as the smarter of the Hall brothers, but he had the good sense to know when to join the better team. Apparently, Don couldn't figure that out when Superman's Regime and a new world were staring him in the face.So that made Hank the smarter one, he supposed. For adapting and thriving in this new future while Don did whatever it was Outlaws from the government spent their time doing.But Don always was the one to get caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

Hawk turned and Dove was standing frozen in the doorway. Blue eyes blown wide and unblinking. He felt a smile yanking irresistibly at his lips. This was good. For Don to be here now. 

He stepped forward. 

And Don stepped back. 

He shifted and slipped on blood. Not his blood, of course. Superman’s new laws, being able to let loose, it had stopped this goon from ever having a chance. That would get dull soon, but for now it was… cathartic. 

He stepped forward. 

And Don stepped back. 

“Hank… Hank what have you done?” Don’s voice was breaking. Hank made a note to tease him about it later. 

“There’s a new law, haven’t you heard? We aren’t putting up with criminals anymore, and this guy was trying to break and enter, plain as day. Packing heat and everything. Can you imagine if he got inside and one’a those kids that don’t sleep till 5 in the morning ran into him?”

“Hank, he had a wife. And a son, his wife’s sick… I know him, I’ve seen him, he was looking for a job so he could pay the bills… I don’t think that gun was even loaded.”

Hank glanced back, and wondered. “Look, it was a short fight. If I’da pussyfooted around like you he coulda shot someone. I didn’t know he was just pretending.”

Hank took a step forward.

Don took a step back. 

And then another.

“Look, it’s the law . And it’s from Superman! You like Superman, don’t you? And he’s the government now-”

“This is wrong! It doesn’t matter what anyone says…”

“Look, I’m just following the law, it’s not a big deal…” 

“That man is dead! It is a big deal!”

“People were dying Don, because the system we used to have didn’t work. It was slow. You know that. It was corrupt. Criminals could go to jail and get out, run free and hurt people if they didn’t bribe their way out in the first place, I don’t know what kind of magical happy place universe you’re living in but people are dying-”

“Yes! Yes, they are dying, Hank! And you just killed one of them!”

“You’re not innocent either, Don. You know what happens when you go off and hesitate in the middle of a fight. Some of those guys got away to kill-”

“Not being able to save everyone is not the same thing as murder !”

“Well, now we can save everyone!”

Hank took a step forward. 

Don took a step back. 

Hank took a step and a step and a step and Don didn’t have anywhere left to go. 

Hank’s fingers closed over Don’s shoulder and he watched as blood seeped from his hand into the white of Don’s cape. “With Superman in charge the law won’t be slow anymore. And after we get past the beginning, it’ll be a little bloody, but all changes in government are, then they’ll all be too scared to break the law anymore!

There’ll be peace Don. Just like you always wanted.”

“No. No, this isn’t the government deciding what’s best for the people. Which would be wrong anyway, but this … Hank, Superman’s wife was killed and I think she was pregnant. This isn’t a rational decision for what to do with criminals. This is a hurt, broken man lashing out and it isn’t what’s best for anybody .”

“He’s the law, Don. We follow the law.”

“He’s only the government because he flew to DC and threatened to lobotomize anyone who stood up to him.”

“Wai- that wasn’t on the news… Don, you have sources! You know people who are resisting the Regime! This is great!”

Don’s eyes widened and he leaned back as the pressure lifted from his arm. 

“You won’t need to - to fight or work for Superman, you can just turn them in and I bet it’d be enough that they’d overlook it if you didn’t cooperate with everything else! We’d be okay! You can just go over and-”

The hand was back. And Hank was close enough that Don could feel the heat pulsing off him in waves. 

“And if I don’t? Are you going to turn me in? Hold me down while Superman bores a hole in my brain?”

“You won’t do that. Because you aren’t a criminal.” 

“I have to do what’s right Hank. President, Superman… It doesn’t matter who’s on the other end of the gun.”

“Zero. Tolerance. For criminals. We need this, Don! How many people did the Joker kill, running in and out of Arkam like a revolving door before Superman finally put a stop to him? How many more people are we going to save in the long run?”

“But it’s the wrong thing to do! The wrong thing, Hank. How many people did the Joker kill… we elevate ourselves, put ourselves on a pedestal and suddenly we’re the ones choosing who can be saved and who can’t and the answer is that everyone can’t? Give up on everyone once they do one thing wrong? Judge everyone by their worst mistakes? We can’t just write people off like that, we can’t-”

“Every murderer on this planet will be dead! Every rapist, terrorist, scumbag who thought they could hurt people and get away with it: they’ll be dead! Most of them weren’t going to reform! They… Don, we’re saving so many more people than if we just lay down and let the old system walk all over us!” 

“Every murderer dead but the ones wearing masks. Doing the wrong thing for the right reasons… ignoring that Superman’s reasons aren’t even right… it’s still wrong. And it’s going to get blown out of proportion, you can’t just hand someone absolute power and expect it to work out and you sure can’t hand that kind of power to someone out to avenge his wife and child…

Hank, I will never. Never . Condone this evil. It’s evil evil EVIL and if you stay with it it’ll break you down too, I know it!”

“Don, no…”

“I won’t, Hank. I’m sorry.”

“No, you aren’t. No, you aren’t. You… Don, keep your head down. Keep under the radar if you’re going to be so stupid … until you come to your senses.”

“I’m not going to do that, Hank. I can’t support this.”

“But you won’t be fighting. Just hiding.”

“Hank…”

“You never wanted to fight anyway. This is your chance to go underground and never transform again.”

“Something evil is happening, Hank. Walk away and hide, I… What’s happening is wrong.”

The pressure lifted from both shoulders now, and Don didn’t know whether or not he was glad.

“Dad is with Superman. Because he’s the law . And whatever we do, it has to be within the law or we have anarchy. You do this, I can see the idea in your stupid little head, you do this and you’ve lost everything he’ll be cursing your name and you know it!”

“If he curses me it’ll be because Superman’s Regime won’t let him do anything else. Hey… look on the bright side. You could get lucky. Maybe they’ll catch me and let you keep my lobotomized body.”

“Don…”

Don’s head lowered. “I know, Hank. But… you don’t have to do this. Come with me. Please.”

“I couldn’t. You know how terrible I am at sneaking around. I go with you and I give myself 5 days before I blow your cover.”

“No! Don’t lie to me, no pretending, not right now.”

This time it was Don’s hand that reached out, Hank who was captured and grounded against or by his will. 

“You’re scared. You’re scared of what will happen if you don’t have this outlet, and you don’t want to live your life hiding and holding back. You want an excuse and you just got one, but it isn’t worth it , Hank. Why can’t you see that? Why?”

“I’m… Don, I can’t go with you. Live like that. There’s just no way for me to… Just keep your head down, okay? One day, after this… transition blows over, we won’t need to be so harsh. And you can come back. Just… don’t do anything stupid until then, okay?”

White gloves over pianist fingers slid down to Hank’s wrist. 

“Only if you won’t.”

“Deal.”

“...Deal.”

And Don stood there with blood on his shoulder and blood on his hands and all of it because of Hank’s not-a-crime and he turned around. And walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

Bip. Bip. Bip. Bip-bip. 

Stupid. Stupid, stupid Don in his stupid costume with his stupid stupid ideas.

Bip. Bip. Bip. Bip. 

He’d told him. He’d said … this wasn’t his fault, was it? No, no. He’d been protecting him. He couldn’t have gone. He would’ve blown his cover, he needed the outlet of a real fight and it wasn’t like he really disagreed with Superman anyway … 

Don had stuck with him no matter how much trouble Hank had gotten in. Why hadn’t Hank done the same for him?

Aw. He knew why. He didn’t really mind what Superman was doing. And he didn’t know how to live the life Don was talking about. And he was too much of a coward to learn. 

Bip. Bi-bi-bi-bip.

Hank wished Don’s vitals would stabilize. At least it would be one thing he no longer had to worry about. On the other hand… at least it was familiar. Don’s stumbling pulse, this hospital bed, the incessant beeping of the monitors; they might as well have been old friends. Hank couldn’t count the times he and Don had been here, on either side of the bed. 

Hank had betrayed a lot of old friends recently. He wasn’t sure what he would do if this one disappeared too. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

According to the medical reports, Don had been released to Hank’s custody and was living in Hank’s apartment. Those reports were wrong. 

His brother wasn’t there. 

There was a thin, hollow pile of skin and bones and hair that blinked at him and looked through him but not at anything, not for anything… 

Hank stared at the living corpse sitting in the empty room. 

And it stared back. 

Hank jerked away again, shattering eye contact like a double-barrelled shotgun over his knee. Not-Don slumped in Hank’s peripheral vision, but Hank didn’t care. Whatever that thing was, it had no business wearing Don’s face and making Hank take care of it. 

It didn’t matter. 

No matter how hard Hank looked away, he was always drawn back: every single time. 

And every time the same greeting: A tilted head, blank eyes and not a trace of recognition. Hank’s hand pulled itself forward, attached to Don like a puppet on an invisible string, and moved against the terrible, fiendishly small, crimson-purple black hole on this new thing’s head. 

Don flinched. Scared.

Never before, not once, had Don looked at him like that. The only time Hank could remember was… blood on his hands, a farce of familiarity, this blood wasn’t like other blood this was the life of a man poured out stolen … Don had been scared then. But it hadn’t been like this. 

Oh, why hadn’t Hank just gone with him? Nothing was worth this! 

Hank stood up abruptly, not-Don tracking his movement from the couch. He made some kind of sound, not words Don used words so what was this , and Don made the sound again louder. The new thing always did this. When Hank was angry or upset and it just made things worse . Because Don would be talking right now. Don would say ‘talk to me’ and Don would say ‘Hank you need to calm down’ or ‘it’s going to be okay’ if he thought it was really bad. The corpse couldn’t talk. But it seemed intent on trying, a horrible parody mocking Hank’s silver tongued brother.

Sometimes Hank wanted to smash it. See if that made it stop ‘talking’. Sometimes he tried to teach it words because… because if Don was anywhere he had to be there. Just waiting to be coaxed out. And Hank wasn’t ready to accept that Don was dead. Not when Don was sitting right in front of him. Worried and confused and trying to make things better . 

Well, it looked like they were both making a mess of making things better. 

Hank walked over to Don again and fell into the seat beside him. 

“What.”

“Hanikk?” Don pushed his hand against Hank’s chest. 

“Is that my name or gibberish.”

“Kkblish.”

“Gibberish. Good to know.”

“KGKGsss.”

If Hank hadn’t known any better he would’ve sworn Don was getting on to him. “I’m taking you seriously.”

Don narrowed his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows as if working on a terribly difficult problem. Instinctively, Hank’s hand moved up to ruffle Don’s hair. Don’s relaxing posture might as well have been acid, from the speed Hank jerked away his hand. Don looked up, confused, as if he couldn’t understand why this should be any different from the hundreds of other times Hank had mussed his hair to calm him down. 

Hank looked away. Don tugged on his arm. “Hay?”

Good thing #1. Don appeared to have learned his name. After a fashion. 

“HAY?”

“ Yes , Don?”

Don reached out a whacked Hank on the head repeatedly, like an annoying bird flapping it’s wings. 

“Cut that out! Cut it out!”

Hank grabbed at Don’s wrists and Don glared at him, jaw set, as if Hank had done something extraordinarily stupid. 

“What are you getting onto me for? You’re the idiot here!”

Don jerked in Hank’s hands and glared harder.

“I’m not being stupid! It’s your fault! It’s your fault for running off and getting caught and not staying with me! I could’ve protected you! You could’ve been fine! We could’ve! So stop acting like this! Stop right now! You either need to act like yourself or you might as well be… or… or… or dead...” 

Don mewled in confusion as Hank dropped his head against his chest, choking into his little brother’s shirt. His wrists were still captive but he could duck his head to nuzzle it against Hank’s. 

“Don… m’sorry. M’sorry.”

“Ssksh.” 

Hank pulled back, releasing Don as he did so and wiping his face on his sleeve. “Comfort, Don? Really?”

“Pptkth”

“I didn’t understand whatever that was. I… you know, that’s what you would’ve done before. You kinda sounded like that too… except I could understand you then. I think…”

“pbbths”

“...I don’t know anymore. You… you’re… you want to make me feel better. Well, big deal! A stupid dog could do that! You don’t have to be Don for that! Don would make me feel better. Guess what, not-Don! I still feel terrible! You didn’t help! You…”

“Eeer?”

“You’re all I have left… well, I can’t hold onto you just because of that! If we’re being honest, there are recordings of Don. And any one of them are probably better than you!”

Don reached out, grasping the top of Hank’s hand. “Ger? Kkder?”

“Stop it. Stop trying to be… stop being… stop being Don. I don’t need… I don’t want…”

“Hay? Hay. Ookhay.”

“You… you’re Dove, right? Say it, say Dove.”

“Vv?”

“Duh-v. It’s not hard, c’mon.”

“KKg?”

“No, c’mon, say it! Look, if you say it you get… powers and maybe it’ll… fix you a little bit. Maybe alot bit. And we wouldn’t tell anyone, you could just do it sometimes and I’d… I’d have you back. I don’t… I don’t have you now.”

Don ran his hand over the back of Hank’s, worried blue eyes locked into storming brown.

“No, no that’s not enough, you aren’t… you’re a different person now if you’re even a person! You’re… you’re an animial, you’ve gotta be better if you want to be my brother! So you’ve got to be Dove, that’ll fix you. You’ll be yourself then. Say it, say Dove!”

“Duh?”

“Do- ve, c’mon .”

“Doov.”

“ Dove !”

“Dove.”

“Yes! Yes!... Nothing… nothing’s… you need to mean it, remember when you were Dove? When you had to try to transform? Remember that, use it?”

“Bpks?”

“Nooo, no… later. You’ll get it later. When you remember more… you will remember more, won’t you, Don? You gotta. You will. You… you won’t be an empty shell like this. I’ll fix you, you haven’t got anything now, but I’ll fix you.”

“...ve? ..ve?”

“ Yes ?”

“Luve?”

“Wha - no. No. The first word you can think to say and… no! No! My brother needs more than that. If that’s all you’ve got, then my brother is dead! I don’t care about whatever dumb love you can scrape up, I want Don’s ! You aren’t Don and you aren’t… you’re not a person! That isn’t enough! You know, there was a reason I joined the Regime, and it wasn’t because I was nice! But it’s taught me more about being strong and… and standards and ... so… so learn to transform! I need that! I need Don, not… not whatever you’re supposed to be!

I want… I need my brother. And you’re not… enough. And if you were it would be… it’d be blasphemy to my real brother. But you could be; Dove’ll… it’ll save you. So learn. Learn it, Don. As fast as you can. Or they might as well have given you a real coffin instead of that shell.” 

A few days later a woman claiming to be Dove showed up at his doorstep, and Hawk spent the night digging the grave.


End file.
